Mistakes I made as a Newbie

a snad sifting star needs an established tank to survive. but what az is getting at , it basically ate more than he wanted. it ate all the good and bad stuff in his sand bed. if by your blue one, its most likely a linkia star. another one thats difficult to keep and needs an established tank also.

 

Starfish are live food eaters not detritus eaters so they strip the sandbed of everything alive they can fit in their mouths. My DSB went from crawling with life to zero life in a short time with just one sand sifting star. Everyone told me not toadd it but I thought I knew better, stupid me!

 

#1 mistake experimenting. #1 mistake lack of maintenance.

Can there be more than one #1;D

 

I believe i did most if not all including spot feeding aiptasia. Had them babies happy and big.

Smartest move i did do is stay with the soft easy coral. Star polyps, mushrooms, xenia, taro tree, toad stoll, zoas, and rics.

 

Wow... I feel like I've been researching for months, but I just got schooled. Great thread guys. I still have much to learn.

 

Very good info here, thanks guys! I made the mistake of buying a used settup off craigslist from a guy that never maintaned it (algae everywhere) not sure what i was thinking. He had been using canister filters (i switched to sump) I even used tap water with conditioner to fill half of it (never ever again!) im in the middle of starting a new system the right way. Getting all the correct equiptment first. Lesson learned!

 

My mistakes...

1) Not quaranting my fish. Got an ick outbreak and put all my fish in a 10 gallon (5 fish!). Only 2 survived and the rest died; first time doing hypo and ammonia went very high.

2) Ordering my tank online. After further inspection of my biocube after draining it my dad and I inferred that the mailman actually hit it pretty hard against something or didnt handle it with care. Got a leak and lost a few fish and corals druing the time

 

used to do 10% water changes for my 55gal... Mixed the water in a 5 gal bucket with a large spoon for 10-15 mins and dumped it straight into the tank..

Surprisingly.. Nothing ever died

 

I am big time NOOB. This is great reading. My first post.
Question: Is there a glossary of all the abbreviations used for reef tanks?
thanks

 

Noob mistake...I did search and found this:
http://www.3reef.com/forums/new-hobby/glossary-terms-31838.html